Wildlife galore in the Pantanal

Our driver took us from the airport to our first hotel in Cuiaba which was great, well located, clean, comfortable, had everything we needed and breakfast was very good. The staff were friendly and the breakfast staff were helpful and really nice.

The next day we were picked up on time by Claude (his name sounded like Claude anyway!) who was extremely good, safe and knowledgeable about the wildlife. He stopped for us to see the birds and wildlife along the way. He didn’t speak a lot of English and we don’t speak Portuguese but we managed absolutely fine between us, we used our phrase book where we could. The journey was great, very comfortable and lots to see.

Araras, well, what can we say? Sometimes you get a feel for a place by reading Trip Advisor but this lodge far exceeded any expectations we may have had - it was wonderful! The staff were lovely, so warm and accommodating, the food was really good too. Tadew, the guide was exceptional - we often have excellent guides but he was absolutely superb, one of the best ever. The whole experience there was amazing from the lodge, the facilities, the excursions - everything. We saw so much, numerous birds, crab eating foxes, crab eating racoons, coati, agoati, monkeys, tarantulas, leaf cutter ants, bats, iguana, tegu, owls, as well as the usual capibara and caiman. We wanted to see, but didn’t think we would, anteater and armadillo. We were lucky enough to see 2 types of anteater, one of which we didn’t know existed and a whole community of armadillo. Tadew saw a puma but it disappeared before we could get a glimpse. Such an interesting and brilliant place, we felt really sorry to leave, we wished we could have stayed so much longer.

Porto Jofre was quite different although still a lovely place. Flavio, our driver, was another great chap, he too was very safe, and, although we stopped to look at the animals and birds, we seemed to get to our lodge in no time. I did struggle to eat on the first evening being a veggy and they held a barbecue, great idea for meat eaters though and Phil enjoyed the food. The rest of the time, the food was varied and tasty.

 Jean was a very knowledgeable and excellent guide. We loved our trips on the boat which was just for us 2. The river and tributaries are fabulous and we enjoyed every minute just travelling around on them. Gonzalao was a really good “boatman”, he spotted birds and wildlife for us as well as Jean. It was great to pass by the caiman quite closely, often they would dive under water when we came near, but some just stayed where they were and watched us. There were many capibara too, we passed really near to one family were sitting on a floating “island” of lilies munching the stalks.

On the first morning, Gonzalao took us to a place where a mother jaguar and 2 cubs had been seen previously. There were a few boats of people watching and waiting to see the mother who had been on the beach but had disappeared. After a while, they all decided to go off and look around the bend for her but Gonzalao and Jean decided we would moor up opposite the beach, they thought she may come back. }We were the only ones there and, after a few minutes, sure enough, she reappeared. We watched her for quite a long time as she paced up and down the beach, sniffing, panting and resting. She was looking into the undergrowth, we assume, at her cubs but they stayed hidden. Other boats did come eventually but we had her to ourselves for a good 10 minutes! We returned to the lodge for lunch and in the afteroon, we were lucky enough to see another female aguar but she was not quite so clear. The next morning, Gonzalao and Jean took us to a place where there was a family of giant otters, the young were diving and playing around, some were grooming each other, which was lovely. Afterwards we raced off up the river and were incredibly lucky to see a huge male jaguar swimming, get out and pace up and down the riverbank, sniffing and spraying. That was such a clear sighting. He disappeared so we whizzed off down the river and around the corner to, just about see him killing something and take off into the reeds which Jean and Phil realised was an anaconda. It isn’t that clear on Phil’s video but we were able to see it in real life through camcorder and binoculars. Our final treat was, on the journey away from Porto Jofre, Flavio and Phil spotted a cat just walking across the road in the distance. Jean and I glimpsed the back end and tail, but we weren’t quite close enough for Jean to establish whether it was a jaguar or a puma. We waited a while near to where it was seen but we didn’t see him again.

The Porto Bay in Rio was fabulous, what a gorgeous hotel! From our room we could see the Copacabana beach on the left and Christ the Redeemer to the right. The staff again were so good and really lovely. We have never seen a breakfast like it, the choice and the quality was fantastic! Neils, our guide had amazing knowledge and we thoroughly enjoyed our trips with him. We learned so much, enjoyed the lunch he took us to in Ipanema and it was the perfect end to a wonderful holiday. Christ the Redeemer was stunning, we now know why all the fuss….! 

In summary, the hotels/lodges were excellent, our long car journeys to and from Cuiaba to the lodges seemed to pass in no time. Although it did not affect us or our holiday, some of the bridges on the Transpanteira are a little dodgy to say the least! Compliments to Wildlife Worldwide and your local agent for their brilliant organisation, excellent choice of accommodation and superb drivers/guides.

Julia and Phil travelled with us in October on a tailor made trip to the Pantanal, home to an impressive array of wildlife and the greatest biodiversity on earth.